Prior to AC Milan’s win over Tottenham earlier this week, the club owner Gerry Cardinale had a meeting with technical director Paolo Maldini. What was talked about has now emerged, also based on the latter’s words.
Cardinale was present at San Siro for the big game in the Champions League against Tottenham and he couldn’t have picked a better occasion. However, in addition to watching the team in action, he also had some meetings in Milano.
One of them, as was confirmed by Maldini himself before the game, entailed speaking with the management. Although the director was rather cryptic, we can make out the broad strokes of the discussion that took place, as Franco Ordine writes.
“I find it very useful to read what Paolo Maldini said, before Milan-Tottenham, on the meeting with Gerry Cardinale. After lunch with the new owner, he said ‘it went well’. He also added that ‘we are committed to the project but it takes time to fully implement it’. Very true.
“Behind these two sentences, there is a whole scenario to be reconstructed. The meeting was born in the wake of the budget controversy that emerged in newspapers, sites and social networks. The result demonstrates that clarification has taken place.
“Above all, he said that they are committed to the project, i.e. the famous sustainable football, the formula that led to the success of the Scudetto, restoring the club’s accounts that had been destroyed by the Fassone-Mirabelli management.
“The era of requesting extra budget is over! We need to build the Milan of the future by relying on the same criteria used in the past with Leao, Kalulu, Tomori, and now with Thiaw,” he concluded.
In short, Cardinale put his foot down by referring to the project in place. The budget that is set before the start of the season will be the same in January, it’s just up to Maldini and Massara to spend it out as they see fit.
